Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

"When he left the RAF, [14-victory ace] Bob Doe...did not talk much about the past and did not go to reunions. He did not like to display his sores in public, he said.

"That changed in 1985, when he appeared in a Channel 4 documentary called Churchill's Few...The morning after the broadcast, a roadsweeper walked in [to Doe's petrol garage], shook his hand, said 'Thanks,' and walked away. An old lady came up to him and kissed him and his customers started calling him 'Sir'."

-- Stephen Bungay, The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

"I do realize that this struggle, if it continues, can end only with the complete annihilation of one or the other of the two adversaries. Mr. Churchill may believe this will be Germany. I know that it will be Britain...Possibly Mr. Churchill again will brush aside this statement of mine by saying that it is merely born of fear and of doubt in our final victory. In that case I shall have relieved my conscience in regard to the things to come."